Hamburger from Heaven

     We made our way home from camp on Sunday night with one pound each of thawed lean ground beef and pork. We'd meant to have hamburger's for Sunday dinner but after a triple birthday and so much lovely cake- we were all too full. This is part of the problem of summer cooking, as Shannon A. mentioned in her last post. We eat what we have and the summer days stroll on so casually that nearly every meal ends in a trip to the kitchen for raw or steamed veggies, a salad, potatoes, and something on the BBQ. Perfectly delicious, simple and effortless, the very essence of summer.
    
    Nothing says summer like a hamburger and by fluke, I happened to make the greatest hamburgers of all time Monday night.


Here's the recipe:


1 pound lean ground pork
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup bread crumbs
3 eggs
1Tbs chives 
3 cloves grated garlic
4 squirts of Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs. Basil


     I used chives and basil from the garden, bread crumbs blended from the crusts of 1000 crustless sandwiches made for my children (yes, I am that mother, but I trim crusts because I like to have flavourful bread crumbs, not just to spoil my children ).  I used an extra egg this time, rather than 2 and the whole mixture held together beautifully.


Remove all jewellery, wash your hands and dig in. Mix all ingredients together, stopping to warm your hands under warm water when necessary. Once all ingredients are thoroughly mixed, shape hamburger patties to suit your family- sliders, whoppers, whatever- I ended up with 16 patties of varying size.


Usually I hate BBQ-ing hamburgers, because they break apart and slip through the grate and I get angry- the extra egg held the patties together perfectly. I also decided to give the meat some space. I am a frequent flipper and hoverer of the BBQ. I held myself back and let the patties cook for a full 15 minutes covered at medium heat. When I flipped them, not one cracked, not even one. I cooked them for 15 more minutes, and they were ready.


I topped some with cheddar and others with tomato and basil mild cheddar. 

We used grocery store buns- still struggling with bread.


Garnishes included, onions from the garden, ketchup, mustard, relish.


We ate them with all on their own for dinner. And had them again tonight, equally good a day later.


On another note I picked the first ripe tomato from my garden today. I have dozens of green tomatoes, my most successful year yet. However, my squash are flowering but not producing, could I have messed up zucchini? Is it possible to plant zucchini and not have an abundant yield? Could all of my co-workers have cursed my garden because I am a zucchini pusher for the month of September?